It's been announced that Qantas will be cutting back service between LAX and both SYD and MEL later this year. Here's a link to the
Business Traveller News article.
From the article:
"From December 18, it will axe B747 flights QF017/018 on Mondays and Thursdays, before cutting a further two flights, on Wednesdays and Fridays, on January 23.
Therefore, from January 23, Qantas will fly a daily A380 service as QF011/012 between the two cities and a three-times weekly QF017/018, which will operate on Tuesdays, Saturdays and Sundays."
There currently are 2 daily flights between LAX and SYD, and 10 flights weekly between LAX and MEL.
I managed by a stroke of luck to get F award space LAX-SYD and return on QF for a trip last year. While the service comes nowhere close to EK or CX, it is still far, far better than the US carriers flying internationally.
It seems the writing is on the wall - with the number of flights being cut back, it's likely to become even more difficult to find high-quality award space in F or J between the US and Australia.